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On July 5th, CNN reported that authorities had evacuated 3,000 workers from a 39-story office building following reports that the structure had shook for about ten minutes. You can read about it here. What was strange about the incident, is that no traces of an earthquake were recorded during the period of the reported tremors. Nonetheless, tenants fled the building; one quoted stating that the building felt as if it was shaking up and down.

Tenants may have heard this catchy tune blaring through their walls just prior to the traumatic event:

Thats because 17-middle aged foggies were practicing their regular Tae Bo routine to this song. Tae Bo is the spawn of Tae Kwon Do and boxing, and has been made popular in the western world by fitness master Billy Blanks:

If you were ever striving for bodacious man cleavage like his, now you know what it takes(can cleavage even be bodacious?)

Anyways, apparently Snap (the musical maestros responsible for the tune above) really convinced those Koreans that “they got the power”, as CNN is now reporting that their fitness routine is what caused the ‘earthquake’,

Prime Group, owner of the 39-story TechnoMart commercial-residential high-rise in Seoul, said 17 middle-aged people were working out to the pop song “The Power” by Snap on July 5 when their movements set the upper floors of the tower shaking for 10 minutes, according to a report from the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“We observed the vibrometer while performing the same kind of aerobic exercise that was performed at the time of the shaking which occurred on July 5. We noticed that the shaking was felt in the upper floors while the exercise was being performed while no other place showed signs of tremor,” Chung Lan, a professor of architectural engineering at Dankook University, told the Korea Times.

“It just happens to be that the vibration cycle caused by Tae Bo collided with the vertical vibration cycle unique to the building,” Chung told the Korea Times. The action amplified the building’s vibration and caused the shaking, he said.

Impressive. My workouts barely manage to move my lump of a body, never mind a whole building. I wonder if Koreans don the sporty du rag during Tae Bo like they do during my tennis lessons?

xoxo

PS As I was finishing this post, a similarly fantastic/horrid song came on my iTunes.